Brama: We need to be brave against Sydney FC

After one week on the sideline due to a hamstring injury, Dutch midfielder Wout Brama is set to return to face ladder leaders Sydney FC this Saturday night at Allianz Stadium.

Brama was substituted off in our round 15 #F3Derby against the Newcastle Jets and is confident that he can make a return on Saturday night.

“I’m back to training on the pitch,” Brama said. “We will have to see how I am feeling over the next couple of days but I expect to be back on Saturday.

“It’s very frustrating when you’re sitting in the stands watching the team play and you want to help and you want to contribute to the win. I think we deserved to win, Melbourne City were very defensive, we were dominating and in the end, it’s unlucky that we conceded two goals.

“If we keep going like this and keep playing our playing style then in the end the results will come,” Brama said.

Mariners’ fans will fondly remember the Yellow & Navy’s 2-0 win over Sydney FC in round six when they became the only club to overcome the Champions this season.

Brama says that this Saturday is a completely new challenge and his side needs to focus on capitalising on their opportunities and staying true to their aggressive possession based play.

The 31-year-old former Utrecht midfielder says the Mariners need to be “Brave”.

“Of course, you take the good things from that game but this Saturday is a brand-new game,” Brama said. “You can never look back in sport, you always have to look forward. Whether you lose or win, you need to keep doing the good things and learn from your mistakes – of course we played well against Sydney last time and earned a 2-0 win but this Saturday we need to be 100 percent focussed to keep on going.

“To take three points we will need to be really brave.

“We need to score goals,” Brama said. “We are creating chances, Newcastle away for example in the first half we had two or three really good opportunities to score. In the beginning of the season we scored the first goal in our first eight or nine games. In the end, we haven’t taken three points in games that we’ve deserved it.

“We have to keep playing our playing style and I think if we do that, be brave on the ball and give each other options we have a really good chance to win. When we play our style of football we are a very good football team, we can’t do the same as some of the other teams like kicking long balls and getting into duels – we need to play football," Brama said.

With seven players unavailable for last weekend’s match, the depth of Paul Okon’s squad was tested and Brama says having multiple options in each position is crucial whilst praising 20-year-old Terrigal junior, Lachie Wales.

“Having depth in the squad is very important,” Brama said. “In the end, it is more important than having a strong first 11. You can’t play 27 games with the first 11 so it’s always very, very important.

“For example, it’s great to see Lachie wales come in and do well. It’s always nice to see a kid who is from here and grown up here do well, to get his first chance and take it. He has done a really good job, he’s a great kid and he deserves it,” Brama said.

The other area within the squad that there is competition is between the goalscoring abilities of our two Dutchmen, Brama & Tom Hiariej.

Brama joked that there might be a good chance that Hiariej could be doing a ‘nudie run’ at the season’s end.

“Tom is up for the naked run,” Brama said. “At the end of the season if he hasn’t scored he has to do a naked run. I am already out, I’ve already scored two so maybe next penalty tom can take it,” Brama said.